The  Housing  Crisis  of 
Greater  New  York 


Home  Builders  Club 

Organized  By  The 

Belle  Isle  Lumber  Company 

Suite  902  Loew  Building 

Broadway  &  45th  Street 
New  York 


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BELLE  ISLE  LUMBER  COMPANY 

SUITE  902,  LOEW  BUILDING 

45th  STREET  AND  BROADWAY  NEW  YORK 


BELLE   ISLE  LUMBER  COMPANY 

(Incorporated  under  the  Laws  of  the  State  of  Delaware,  licensed  to  transact  business  in  the  States 

of  New  York  and  Connecticut) 


Authorized  Capital,  $1,000,000 

NO  BONDS  (  Full  Paid  and  Non-assessable)  no  DEBTS 

Preferred  Stock,  8'  \  Cumulative,  Par,  $10-----------      -  $400,000 

Common  Stock  (Voting),  Par,  $10      -  600,000 

Allotment 

Preferred  Stock  in  Treasury  -  $400,000  Common  Stock  in  Treasury  -  200,000 
Common  Stock  Issued    -  400,000 

To  Be  Presently  Issued 

Preferred  Stock  -  $200,000       Common  Stock  -  100,000 


5%  Lumber  Certificates 

Authorized  for  Sale  by  Resolution  of  the  Board  of  Directors  and  Offered  at  Par,  $10  Each  in  Units 
of  2  Certificates  and  1  Share  of  Common  Stock,  Par  Value,  $30,  for  $23  Per  Unit,  Until  Further  Notice 

$100,000 

Lumber  Certificates  of  The  Belle  Isle  Lumber  Company  are  Convertible  into  "DOMINION  SPRUCE" 
Lumber  at  the  Option  of  the  Holder  by  Giving  90  Days'  Notice  to  the  Company  as  Prescribed  in  the 
Lumber  Certificate  Issued. 

Should  the  Holder  decide  not  to  Build,  the  Certificates  are  Transferable  upon  the  books  of  the 
Company  or  upon  90  days'  notice,  are  Convertible  with  the  consent  of  the  Company  into  8'  ,  Pre- 
ferred Shares  of  the  Belle  Isle  Lumber  Company,  Dollar  for  Dollar,  at  Par. 


1 


Reese  P.  Risley,  President 


OFFICERS 

Alfred  W.  Sibley,  First  Vice-President 
Murdoch.  M.  Graham,  Second  Vice-President 
Tyrrell  B.  Shertzer,  B.S.C.E.,  Engineer      William  F.  Tuerk,  Treasurer 
William  C.  Freeman ,  Adv.  Counsel        Maximilian  M .  Cain ,  Architect  I  Director 


Advertising  Adviser  for  Wilson  &  Co  . 
Packers.  The  Cities  Service  Co.  and  the  Montray 
Corporation  of  Miami,  Fla..  and  New  York 


f-ormerly  with  MowII'&l  Rand,  Architects. 
Boston,  Mass. 

DIRECTORS 


William  M.  Tracy,  Secretary 
David  H.  Sloane,  Attorney 

Counsel  for  the  National  Association 
ol  Printing  Ink  Manufacturers 


Theodore  Becker,  io  E.  14th  St.,  New  York 

With  the  Central  Savings  Bank 

\ Ii'rdock  M.  Graham,  Q02  Loew  Building,  Broadway  and  45th  Street,  New  York 

Retired;  Explorer.  Traveller,  Lecturer;  Former  District  Manager  National  Service  Section — Emergency  Fleet  Corporation 

Alfred  W.  Sibley, 

qoi  Loew  Bldg.,  Broadway  and  45th  Street,  New  York 

Formerly  with  A  H.  Sweet  &  Sons,  Lumber  Dealers  and  Manufacturers, 
Norton.  Mass.   Securities  and  investments. 

William  F.  Tierk. 

Q02  Loew  Bldg.,  Broadway  and  45th  Street,  New  York 

Securities  and  Investments;  formerly  Soliciting  Manager  of  the  Royal 
Cocoa  Company 


Reese  P.  Risley, 

qoz  Loew  Bldg..  Broadway  and  45th  Street,  New  York 

Resort  real  estate,  town  planning  and  Building 


Tyrrell  B.  Shertzer.  B  S  C  E., 
100  Hamilton  Place,  New  York,  N.  Y. 

National  Lime  Association;  former  Chief  Engineer.  Portland.  Me^;  Bridge 
District  Commission;  Construction  Engineer  Texas  Oil  Co.,  Bayonne, 
N  J  .;  Norfolk.  Va  ;  City  Manager.  Portsmouth,  Va. 

WILLIAM  M.  Tracy,  Q02  Loew  Bldg.,  Broadway  and  45th  Street,  New  York 

Formerly  with  the  Weyerhauser  lumber  interests,  Potlatch,  Idaho 

Registrar  of  Stock  and  Authorized  Depository  to  be  Announced 

Belle  Isle  Lumber  Company 

(INCORPORATED) 

Organizers  of  the   HOME   BUILDERS   CLUB  Suite  902,  Loew  Bldg. 
August  22nd,  1021  Broadway,  and  45th  Street  New  York 


2 


Crisis  of  Greater  New  York 


'The  Housing 

By  REESE  P.  RISLE  Y 
President,  Belle  Isle  Lumber  Company,  Inc. 


Greater  New  York,  metropolis  of  the  richest  nation  in  the  world, 
confronts,  today,  the  most  critical  problem  faced  by  any  city  in  the 
Western  Hemisphere  the  housing  of  a  vast  hetercgencous  and  cos- 
mopolitan population  under  adverse  building  conditions. 

Twenty  years  ago  (and  twenty  years  is  but  a  day  in  the  life  of  a 
first-class  municipality)  when  the  plan  of  the  subway  system  of  the 
city  was  taking  shape  and  when  Brooklyn  and  Manhattan  were 
linked  by  but  a  single  bridge  which  spanned  the  East  River,  New 
Yorkers  fought  their  way  daily  in  elevated  railroad  jams  to  and  from 
their  places  of  employment.  Then,  as  now,  the  dream  of  the  average 
strap-hanger  was  a  haven  of  refuge  at  the  end  of  his  journey  which 
would  express  his  idea  of  the  sacred  and  beautiful  word  HOME. 

How  the  Subways  Have  Failed  to  Relieve  the 
Housing  Situation 

The  toilsome  c  imb  up  and  down  long  flights  of  steps  and  the 
tedious  trip  which  followed  in  over-crowded  wooden  coaches  were 
inseparable  features  of  the  elevated  commuter's  life  in  the  late 
nineties.  The  principal  difference  between  overhead  ar.d  under- 
grcund  transpcrtation  is  that  whereas  the  cliff-dwellers  of  Harlem 
and  the  Bronx  today  enjoy  the  illuminating  rays  of  the  "Subway 
Sun"  to  light  their  subterranean  journeys  there  was  published  in 
the  early  period  of  rapid  transit  development  no  "Elevated  Star" 
to  educate  the  public. 

The  housing  problem  of  the  late  nineties  which  New  Yorkers  con- 
fronted was  primarily  a  problem  of  transportation    at  least  so  every 

'The  subject-matter  of  this  pamplet  was  embodied  originally  in  an  address  delivered  by  the  Author  at  the  first  meeting  of  the  Home  Builders  Club 
on  July.  19th,  1921. 


one  thought.  Its  solution  was  popularly  and  technically,  too,  sup- 
posed to  lie  in  the  construction  of  additional  and  extensive  arteries 
connecting  the  interior  business  and  industrial  districts  of  Man- 
hattan Island  with  the  outlying  suburban  sections  which  were  near 
enough  to  be  reasonably  accessible  yet  far  enough  removed  from 
the  confusion  of  mart  and  centre  to  be  properly  regarded  as  avail- 
able for  residential  purposes.  This,  I  say,  was  the  popular  opinion 
confirmed  by  engineering  and  technical  authorities  of  the  highest 
standing  and  repute. 

Theoretically,  the  building  of  subways  was  sound  and  practical 
and  it  must  ultimately  be  proven  so  even  though  present  conditions 
be  disappointing,  but  it  can  be  confidently  asserted,  without  fear  of 
successful  contradiction,  that  the  Housing  Problem  of  Greater  New 
York  is  more  acute  today  than  it  has  ever  been  before  in  spite  of  the 
enormous  expenditures  which  the  people  of  the  metropolis  have 
cheerfully  incurred  for  the  completion  of  what  is  admittedly  the  most 
wonderful  system  of  intra  urban  communication  possessed  by  any 
community  in  the  world. 

The  subways,  however,  have  not  as  yet  done  their  work,  they 
have  not  accomplished  the  purpose  for  which  they  were  built,  they 
have  not  yet  succeeded  in  drawing  off  the  vast  surplus  population 
of  the  highly  congested  municipal  centres  into  the  open  fields  of  the 
surrounding  suburbs. 

Briefly,  New  York's  subways  begun  in  1900,  as  completed  to 
date,  represent  an  expenditure  of  $234,000,000.  They  total  479.25 
miles  in  length,  handled  2,530,809,814  passengers  for  fiscal  year 

Id 


[3] 


ending  June  30,  1921,  and  operate  over  343,493,618  car-miles  per 
annum,  31  2  times  the  distance  from  the  earth  to  the  sun,  serving  a 
population  of  5,620,048  in  New  York  City  alone. 

Yet  Greater  New  York  is  confronted  now  as  it  has  been  for  years 
with  a  housing  problem  of  the  first  magnitude — a  problem  so  acute 
so  fraught  with  danger  to  the  health,  happiness  and  prosperity  of  the 
city  as  to  dignify  it  with  the  appellation  of  housing  crisis. 

New  York — Oversold  and  Underbuilt 

The  reader  is  perfectly  justified  in  interrupting  here  to  ask  if  this 
housing  crisis  or  problem — call  it  what  you  will — is  not  world-wide 
and,  if  so,  why  the  condition  in  Greater  New  York  should  be 
regarded  as  any  more  acute  than  in  any  other  city  of  the  country. 

It  is  not  likely  that  this  question  would  be  propounded  by  any 
rent-payer  of  Greater  New  York,  but  if  it  is  put  it  may  be  answered 
by  the  statement  that  the  extraordinary  physical,  topographical 
economic  and  social  conditions  which  combine  to  make  New  York, 
the  Eighth  Wonder  of  the  World  are  reflected  more  vividly  in  New 
York's  housing  problem  than  in  that  of  any  other  city  in  the  United 
States. 

During  the  war  perhaps,  certain  cities  as,  for  instance,  Chester, 
Pa.,  developed  greater  discomforts  to  its  teeming  population  of 
war-workers  than  are  experienced  today  in  Greater  New  York's  most 
congested  quarters,  but  it  is  certain  that  now — today — two  and  a 
half  years  after  the  armistice,  New  York  reaches  in  its  housing 
crisis  the  very  crescendo  of  human  misery  in  a  city  rich  beyond  the 
dreams  of  avarice  and  enjoying  to  the  very  fullest  extent  all  of  the 
bounties  and  blessings  of  prosperity  and  peace. 

What,  then,  is  the  cause  of  this  unusual  and  menacing  condition? 

Why  is  New  York,  rolling  in  affluence  and,  possessing  to  the  'nth 
degree  every  convenience  that  the  genius  of  man  can  suggest  yet  a 


city  gripped  in  the  vice-like  hold  of  a  problem  which  so  far  she  has 
wrestled  with  in  vain? 

Why  is  there  a  housing  crisis  in  Greater  New  York? 

What  is  the  cause  of  it? 

Why  does  it  continue  to  exist? 

What  is  its  effect  upon  the  future  growth  and  development  of  the 
city? 

What  is  its  solution? 

And,  finally,  what  opportunity  of  a  purely  personal  and  business 
or  financial  nature  does  the  solving  of  this  problem  offer  to  those  able 
and  wise  enough  to  assist  in  it? 

These  questions  are  appropriate  and  timely.  They  are  being 
asked  by  thousands  of  loyal  New  Yorkers  in  one  form  or  another 
every  day.  They  are  discussed  in  the  newspapers,  the  streets,  the 
business  offices,  the  clubs,  the  exchanges  and  the  pulpits  of  the 
Metropolis. 

In  flat  and  factory,  shop  and  store,  the  housing  crisis  in  some  form 
or  other  is  daily  talked  over  or  touched  upon  thousands  of  times. 

An  epigram  may  be  defined  as  a  sentence  with  a  barb  in  it  that 
makes  it  stick. 

The  epigram  that  expresses  the  housing  situation  in  Greater  New 
York  is  that: 

New  York  is  oversold  and  underbuilt ! 

This  statement  is  made  deliberately  and  after  an  acquaintance 
of  years  with  local  conditions.  As  an  assertion  it  is  open  to  chal- 
lenge.   Let  us,  therefore,  discuss  it. 

The  Making  of  a  Metropolis 

Topographically,  Manhattan  Island  and  the  littoral  of  Greater 
New  York,  possess  characteristics  so  exceptional  as  to  differentiate 
them  from  other  localities,  even  to  the  aboriginal  inhabitants  as  well 


[4] 


as  to  the  early  Dutch  and  English  colonists  who  sought  to  establish 
their  domiciles  here. 

It  was  recognized  then  as  it  is  today  that  the  mighty  fi>rd  of 
New  York  Bay  and  the  Hudson  River  with  Long  Island,  its  chain  of 
sea-islands  or  "beaches,"  its  Sound,  its  East  River  (or  "arm"  as  it 
would  be  called  in  the  North  Country),  with  the  adjacent  shores  of 
Connecticut,  New  Jersey,  and  New  York  State  (north  of  the  Harlem 
River),  with  Raritan  Bay,  the  Kill  von  Kull,  Staten  Island,  Sandy 
Hook  and  the  rivers  which  empty  into  New  York  Bay  below  the 
Palisades  and  the  Jersey  "meadows"  or  "flats"  —it  was  recognized, 
I  say,  early  in  its  settlement,  that  here  Nature  had  outdone  herself 
in  the  design  of  a  site  for  a  great  industrial,  maritime  and  financial 
centre  which  would  one  day  attain  world-wide  pre-eminence  and 
power. 

But  beyond  and  above  all  these  fundamental  facts  towers  the 
mighty  economic  prestige  which  must  inevitably  accrue  to  a  city 
enjoying  the  strategic  location  which  New  York  possesses  in  its  rela- 
tions to  the  rest  of  a  country  like  ours. 

Let  us  assume,  for  a  moment,  that  the  physical  features  I  have 
referred  to  which  establish  New  York's  maritime  supremacy  were 
found  in  a  location  such  as,  for  instance,  the  present  site  of  Bruns- 
wick, Georgia,  or  Jacksonville,  Fla.  Not  to  disparage  either  of 
those  enterprising  communities  it  would  have  been  manifestly  im- 
possible for  a  New  York  to  have  developed  in  either  of  those  localities 
as  has  the  New  York  which  is  situated  opposite  the  greatest  mineral 
and  agricultural  reg  ons  of  the  United  States  commencing  with  the 
anthracite  and  bituminous  coal  fields  of  Pennsylvania,  and  extending 
westward  in  an  ever  broadening  belt  to  the  shores  of  the  Pacific,  with 
a  commercial  centre  like  Chicago  at  the  foot  of  the  marvelous  Lake 
Region  to  assemble  and  distribute  to  her  the  vast  tide  of  commodi- 
ties which  ultimately  passes  through  the  port  of  New  York  to 
foreign  shores. 


The  Littoral  of  Great  New  York 

The  location  of  New  York  as  regards  the  producing  centres  of 
the  West  no  less  than  the  extraordinary  water-front  which  dis- 
tinguishes the  physxal  formation  of  the  city's  site  are  responsible 
for  the  remarkable  growth  of  the  Metropolis  of  the  Western  Hemi- 
sphere. 

Industrial,  commercial  and  financial  centre  that  she  is,  surpassing 
Tyre,  Rome,  Carthage,  Venice,  Amsterdam,  Liverpool  and  Ham- 
burg, New  York  must  remember  if  she  would  maintain  her  "place 
in  the  sun"  that  her  greatness  is  dependent  upon  her  water-borne 
commerce. 

Let  her  never  forget  that  the  building  of  the  Erie  Canal  opened 
by  Governor  DeWitt  Clinton  in  the  year  1825  gave  the  mighty 
impetus  to  her  trade  which  bore  her  forward  irresistibly  to  her 
present  proud  position  of  civic  supremacy. 

Water-borne  tonnage  from  the  Great  Lakes  and  commerce  w  ith 
every  guard-port  of  the  Seven  Seas  made  New  York  what  she  is 
today  and  it  is  upon  the  possibilities  of  water-borne  traffic  that  New 
York  must  depend  to  save  her  in  the  Housing  Crisis  she  faces. 

These,  then  are  the  factors  which  have  determined  the  magic 
growth  of  this  wonder  city  and  which  assure  its  future  prosperity 
provided  artificial  conditions  or  neglect  do  not  restrict  its  just  and 
logical  expansion. 

How   Real   Estate   Developers   Have  "Sold" 
Greater  New  York 

New  York  is  oversold  and  underbuilt  for  the  very  obvious  reason 
that  population  has  not  availed  itself  of  the  rapid  transit  routes 
to  the  outlying  residential  districts. 

The  subways  that  gridiron  subterranean  New  York  are  really  great 
arteries  along  which  flows  (or  is  supposed  to  flow)  a  tide  of  human- 


L-M 


> 


lty.  Unlike  water,  this  tide  does  not  flow  by  gravity — neither  can 
it  be  forced  as  oil  is  pumped  through  a  pipe-line. 

The  human  beings  which  constitute  New  York's  underground 
streams,  flow  along  these  subway  channels  strictly  in  accordance 
with  economic  laws  which  is  only  another  way  of  saying  that  they 
flow  (or  fail  to  flow)  because  of  business  reasons. 

The  subways  were  built  and,  long  before  ground  was  broken  in 
their  construction,  the  real  estate  operators  of  New  York — aye, 
and  of  the  whole  country — began  subdividing  the  farm-lands  at 
the  various  terminals  of  the  projected  subway  system. 

Attracted  by  the  fertile  field  which  the  stupendous  subway  pro- 
gram of  Greater  New  York  offered  as  it  expanded  from  year  to  year, 
New  York  City,  for  twenty  years  past,  has  attracted  thousands  of 
real  estate  operators  from  without  and  has  developed  within  her  con- 
fines, her  own  quota  to  swell  these  ever  growing  lists. 

Just  as  New  York  is  extraordinary  in  its  topography,  location  and 
strategic  advantages,  so  is  it  remarkable  in  the  number  and  calibre  of 
its  real  estate  developers. 

Any  one  net  informed  as  to  the  facts  might  assume  that  the  an- 
nouncements of  real  estate  for  sale  in  the  current  Sunday  papers, 
for  instance,  indicate  some  new  activities  or  recently  developed 
initiative  on  the  part  of  the  city's  real  estate  vendors. 

Such,  however,  is  far  from  the  case. 

Consult  the  files  of  any  New  York  paper  of  twenty  years  ago  and 
you  will  find  that  the  sale  of  lots  out  on  Long  Island,  over  in  Jersey 
or  up  in  Westchester  was  proceeding  as  actively  in  1900  or  1901  as 
it  is  today.  There  is  no  difference.  It  is  simply  a  question  of  loca- 
tion -  the  sub-divisions  today  are  at  the  terminal-points  of  the  sub- 
ways   twenty  years  ago  they  were  at  the  ends  of  the  elevateds. 

The  real  estate  field  of  Greater  New  York  has  attracted  the  master 
minds  of  the  real  estate  world.  Names  which  have  become  household 
words  in  New  York  and  almost  throughout  the  whole  country  sug- 


gest themselves  when  one  considers  the  growth  of  this  mighty  met- 
ropolitan centre  Joseph  P.  Day,  Bryan  L.  Kennelly,  J.  Clarence 
Davies,  Jere  Johnson,  Jr.,  Wood-Harmon,  Senator  William  H. 
Reynolds,  Felix  Isman,  the  Ackersons,  the  McKnights,  A.  N. 
Git  erman  and  a  score  of  lesser  lights  are  among  these. 

Sub-division  after  sub-division,  allotment  after  allotment  has 
been  laid  out,  improved,  advertised  and  sold  to  a  public  whose 
appetite  for  town-lots,  acreage,  and  real  estate  in  general  has  seemed 
to  be  absolutely  insatiable. 

Obviously,  therefore,  it  has  not  been  the  lack  of  activity  in  the 
preparation  and  improving  of  lots  which  has  caused  the  existing 
housing  crisis. 

The  real  estate  operators  of  Greater  New  York  have  certainly  been 
industriously  at  work  during  the  past  twenty  years,  and  that  they 
have  been  successful  in  disposing  of  their  holdings  is  proven  by  the 
rapidity  with  which  they  have  opened  new  tracts  and  the  extension 
of  the  city's  improvements  into  outlying  regions  under  their  in- 
fluence. 

But,  concurrently  with  these  very  evident  facts,  there  is  also  the 
equally  obvious  condition  that  the  building  of  houses  has  not  kept 
pace  with  the  sale  of  lots.  Every  real  estate  buyer  has  not  evolved 
into  a  house-builder. 

Why  House-Building  Has  Failed  to  Follow 
Lot-Buying 

If  there  have  been  thousands,  tens  of  thousands  and  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  lots  sold  in  Greater  New  York  and  its  environs  since  the 
year  1900,  for  instance,  it  is  equally  and  strikingly  as  true  that  the 
great  majority  of  the  lots  thus  bought  remain  unbuilt  upon  today. 

The  undeniable  truth  of  this  assertion  is  proven  by  almost  any 
suburban  development  which  may  be  examined. 


l".l 


Allotments  can  be  pointed  out  in  conveniently  situated  localities 
as  regards  transportation  which  are  entirely  sold  and  almost  as 
entirely  lacking  in  houses. 

Blocks,  wards,  precincts,  whole  municipalities;  in  fact,  lay  today, 
with  sidewalks,  curbs,  sewers,  water,  gas  and  electricity  installed 
and  only  here  and  there  a  house  or  dwelling  to  show  the  activity  of 
the  absentee  owners  of  these  attractive  building  sites. 

Greater  New  York    oversold  and  underbui  t! 

And  what  is  true  of  New  York  is  true  of  every  city  in  the  United 
States  with  but  few  exceptions — a  condition  which  shows  our  housing 
crisis  to  be  nation-wide. 

It  is  impossible  in  a  pamphlet  of  this  kind  to  analyze  the  various 
factors  which  have  brought  about  the  terrific  congestion  that  now 
exists  in  the  national  and  international  housing  situation. 

Among  these  are  the  unwillingness  on  the  part  of  the  public  to 
recognize  that  the  day  of  the  hundred  cent  dollar  is  gone  never  to 
return  and  that  pre-war  prices  and,  let  us  hope,  pre-war  wages,  will 
never  be  re-established. 

Profiteers  are  equally  as  slow  to  realize  that  the  spirit  of  the 
American  people  is  not  dead  and  that  extortion  and  unjust  taxation 
will  be  fought  as  determinedly  today  whenever  practiced,  as  they 
were  fought  in  the  days  of  our  country's  early  history. 

The  "buyers  strike"  which  began  early  in  1920,  is  just  beginning 
to  break  in  the  building  field  and  the  prospective  home  builder  is 
more  ready  to  talk  actual  construction  work  now,  than  he  has  been 
at  any  time  during  the  past  seven  years. 

Stimulated  by  tax-exemption  in  New  York  State  and  New  Jersey, 
which  will  expire  next  April  in  New  York,  October,  1922  in  New 
Jersey  people  are  getting  out  their  plans  and  blue-prints  for  the 
houses  they  have  been  intending  to  build. 

The  greatest  draw-back  to  building  in  New  York  City  today  is 
largely  (though  not  wholly)  due  to  excessive  railroad  freight  rates 


legalized  in  the  Esch-Cummins  bill  and  adopted  by  the  Inter- 
State  Commerce  Commission  (at  the  instance  of  the  railroad 
corporations) . 

This  question  is  too  big  to  be  discussed  here.  Suffice  it  to  say 
over  70'  c  of  the  lumber  used  in  Greater  New  York  (maritime  city 
though  it  is)  is  rail-hauled.  Much  of  this  lumber  comes  from  the 
far-south  and  west.  Every  foot  of  it  carries  a  terrific  transportation 
tax  which  adds  to  the  cost  of  home-building  in  Greater  New  York. 

Why  this  tax  is  levied  in  the  form  of  excessive  freight  charges,  and 
why  it  is  maintained  in  the  face  of  such  a  crisis  as  the  country 
faces  are  problems  for  the  American  people  to  solve.  Some  time  they 
will  do  it.  In  the  meanwhile  the  Home  Builders  Club  offers  a  partial 
solution  of  New  York's  housing  problem  in  the  plan  outlined  in  the 
prospectus  issued  by  this  Company  for  the  Home  Builders  Club  to 
which  you  are  respectfully  referred. 

Taking  the  Mystery  Out  of  Building 

If  you  have  not  seen  this  large,  four-page  prospectus,  call,  tele- 
phone or  write  for  it  and  it  will  be  sent  to  you  or  given  to  you  free  of 
charge.  It  tells  you  how  you  can  save  33%  %  on  the  cost  of  much 
lumber  over  the  current  retail  price  and  it  tells  you  the  wonderful 
Home  Builders  Club  Service  which  you  get  free  if  you  buy  your 
lumber  from  us.  It  tells  you  of  the  free  architectural  advice  you 
get  as  a  member  of  the  Club  and  of  the  mass  of  information  and 
friendly  counsel  and  help  you  are  given  in  preparing  your  plans  for 
building  and  financing  your  new  house. 

One  of  the  greatest  draw-backs  to  home-building  is  the  ignorance 
of  the  average  man  and  woman  on  these  vital  questions.  The  rudi- 
ments of  house-building  should  be  taught  in  our  public  schools — 
not  in  a  manual  training  course,  but  to  every  student  so  that  all  may 
be  informed  to  some  extent  at  least  in  the  A  B  C's  of  home  building. 


The  feathered  songsters  of  the  forest,  the  very  fowls  of  the  air 
are  equipped  by  instinct  far  better  in  this  respect  than  are  the  boys 
and  girls  of  our  public  schools  who  go  out  into  the  world  to  marry 
and  rear  their  families.  Because  New  York  is  oversold  and  under- 
built there  is  room  for  the  Home  Builders  Club ! 

To  Those  Who  Are  Paying  Rent  and  Taxes 

Both 

When  a  man  buys  a  lot  and  becomes  a  real  estate  owner  he  is 
prompted  by  one  or  both  of  two  impulses  either  he  intends  to 
build  himself  or  he  expects  someone  else  to  do  so  on  his  lot  (after  he 
sells  it),  or  on  a  neighboring  lot. 

If  the  newly-created  real  estate  owner  is  left  to  his  own  devices 
as  most  of  them  are  after  they  have  taken  title  to  their  properties, 
the  great  majority  lapse  into  the  "absentee  landlord"  class. 

Those  who  buy  for  speculation  only  sit  tight  and  wait  for  the 
natural  growth  of  the  city  to  create  for  them  the  unearned  incre- 
ment, as  the  sirgle  taxers  call  it,  which  will  put  them  in  the  same 
class  of  landed  proprietors  be  it  ever  so  modestly  to  which  the 
Astors  belong,  for  was  it  not  the  magic  growth  of  Greater  New  York 
which  created  the  wealth  of  the  Astors,  the  Jays,  the  Van  Cortlandts 
and  other  old  Knickerbocker  families? 

But  in  the  last  analysis  build'ng  and  building  only  creates  value 
to  land  transportation  brings  population  and  population  creates 
real  estate  values! 

I  lence,  houses  are  essential  after  the  pioneer  work  of  the  lot  sales- 
man has  been  done.  And  right  here  let  me  say  that  if  one-half  the 
brains,  money  and  effort  that  has  been  expended  upon  persuading 
people  to  buy  real  estate,  had  been  put  into  getting  them  to  build 
houses,  after  they  had  purchased  lots,  there  would  be  no  housing 
problem  in  Greater  New  York  today! 

For  twenty  years  and  more  New  Yorkers  and  near  New  Yorkers 


have  been  buying  lots.  Long  Island  real  estate — thousands  of 
acres  of  it — is  held  in  every  great  city  of  the  land.  It  is  as  staple 
in  St.  Louis  and  Omaha  as  in  Hempstead  or  Jamaica. 

In  Greater  New  York  there  are  thousands  —yes,  hundreds  of 
thousands — of  people  who  are  in  the  extraordinary  and  contradic- 
tory position  of  paying  rent  and  taxes  both! 

Now,  it  is  bad  enough  to  collect  one  kind  of  domiciliary  receipts 
but  when  you  are  collecting  both  rent  and  tax  receipts  we  think 
well,  we  believe  this  shows  the  crying  need  of  an  organization  like 
the  Home  Builders  Club  and  of  the  movement  it  represents 
what  do  you  think  ? 

From  the  foregoing  it  would  appear  that  the  Home  Bui'.ders  Club 
has  a  clientele  that  is  already  established  for  it.  We  shall  not  have 
to  create  the  desire  to  build  houses.  That  exists  already — it  is 
proven  by  the  enormous  expansion  of  Greater  New  York's  real 
estate  business. 

For  a  score  of  years  this  desire  has  been  growing.  It  has  been 
stimulated  by  millions  of  dollars  of  advertising  and  by  the  tireless 
efforts  of  trained  and  enthusiastic  selling  organizations.  "Own 
your  own  home"  has  come  to  be  synonymous  with  '  Buy  a  lot" 
though  the  gulf  that  separates  them  is  never  bridged  by  the  vast 
majority  of  lot-buyers. 

The  Home  Builders  Club  Motto, 
"New  York    10  Millions!" 

We  read  much  in  the  newspapers  and  hear  much  in  real  estate 
and  financial  circles  of  Greater  New  York's  future  growth  and  ex- 
pansion. 

We  are  told  that  New  York  adds  to  itself  every  year,  by  processes 
of  natural  increase  a  population  of  85,316  people.  This  exceeds  the 
1920  total  census  figures  of  such  cities  as  Savannah,  Ga.;  Portland, 
Me.;  Troy,  N.  Y.,  and  Allentown,  Pa. 


[8] 


I  venture  the  assertion  that  these  figures  astounding  though 
they  be,  would  be  doubled — yes,  tripled  in  some  years — if  word  went 
out  that  New  York  had  finally  determined,  once  and  for  all,  to  rid 
herself  of  the  stifling  parasitic  influences  that  are  retarding  her 
growth  ard  there  would  be  no  more  talk  of  a  higher  subway  fare. 

If  the  world  knew  that  New  York  had  finally  solved  her  housing 
problem  and  was  able  not  only  to  transport  her  teeming  millions 
for  a  10c  fare  fifty  miles  daily  to  and  from  their  work  as  she  is  doing 
today,  but  was,  at  the  same  time  able  to  house  them  economically 
and  comfortably  at  their  journey's  end  on  the  lots  they  have  bought 
and  paid  for  but  are  not  using  I  say,  if  these  facts  could  be  success- 
fully established  so  as  to  make  the  hated  words  "Congestion"  and 
"Overcrowding"  inapplicable  to  the  Metropolis,  the  motto  of  the 
Home  Builders  Club  would  be  realized  in  a  population  of  ten  million 
people  for  Greater  New  York! 

To  make  this  a  possibility  the  Home  Builders  Club  is  going  about 
its  self-appointed  task  of  stimulating  home  building  in  New  York  and 
its  environs,  and  the  foundation  upon  which  the  Home  Builders 
Club  proposes  to  rear  its  structure  is  the  bed-rock  of  water-transport. 

Why  We  Can  Help  You  to  Save  33V3'  ,  on 
Your  Lumber  Bill 

The  vast  littoral  of  the  great  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  less  than 
1400  miles  north  of  the  city  of  New  York,  and  equally  as  convenient 
to  such  adjacent  sea-board  cities  as  Boston,  Bridgeport,  Fall  River, 
Providence,  Newark,  N.  J.  (including  northern  N.  J.,  -Trenton, 
etc.),  Philadelphia,  Wilmington,  Baltimore  and  Washington,  D.  C., 
constitutes  the  national  and  logical  source  of  supply  for  the  most 
valuable  lumber  used  in  the  Eastern  States  for  building  purposes 
"Dominion  Spruce." 

From  this  huge  reservoir  it  is  possible  for  the  Eastern  and  Middle 


States  to  draw  not  only  the  greater  part  of  the  lumber  they  will  need 
in  the  building  boom  that  is  now  developing  but  likewise  the  pulp- 
wood,  wood-pulp  and  paper  consumed  in  the  greatest  printing  and 
publishing  centres  of  the  world. 

The  pulp  and  paper  industry  is  closely  affiliated  with  the  lumber 
industry.  Both  are  based  upon  forest  products  and  both  are  affected 
by  the  same  extraordinary  economic  conditions  which  we  are  dis- 
cussing. Both  lumber  and  paper  have  resisted  "readjustment" 
more  stubbornly  than  any  other  products  in  the  whole  commodity 
family.  Both  offer  the  most  extraordinary  opportunity  for  safe  and 
profitable  investment  to  the  intelligent  investigator. 

Never  before  in  human  history  has  there  been  such  a  situation 
as  has  developed  throughout  the  world  in  general  and  in  the  United 
States  in  particular  in  the  housing  field.  This  situation  is  a  direct 
result  of  the  World  War.  For  seven  years  the  natural  tendency  of 
the  home-loving,  home-making  American  people  110,000,000 
strong — has  been  artifically  restricted. 

The  result  is  a  demand  for  housing  nation-wide  in  extent. 

This  demand  is  so  insistent  as  not  to  be  denied.  A  critical  stage 
has  been  reached.  With  the  approach  of  another  winter  it  is 
becoming  menacing. 

Fortunately,  so  far  as  the  congested  centers  of  the  eastern  and 
Middle  States  is  concerned  the  solution  of  the  problem  is  at  hand. 
The  Home  Builders  Club  is  taking  the  initiative  and  is  opening 
the  way  for  a  general  break  all  along  the  line  in  congested  housing 
conditions. 

As  agents  for  Newfoundaland  and  Canadian  mills  in  the  region 
bordering  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  this  company  will  supply  the 
members  of  its  Home  Builders  Club  with  the  finest  quality  of  building 
material  in  use  Dominion  Spruce  at  a  saving  of  33Vs'  ,  or  at  $40 
per  thousand,  as  compared  to  the  prevailing  retail  market  price 
of  $60.00  per  thousand  or  more  which  the  individual  buyer  would 


[9] 


have  to  pay  for  the  spruce  he  would  use  in  the  erection  of  his 
bungalow,  cottage  or  two-family  house. 

We  can  do  this  because  we  shall  ship  our  lumber  to  New  York  by 
water  -NOT  RAIL! 

Furthermore,  we  are  charging  only  the  manufacturer's  profit. 

You  get  the  benefit  of  this  saving. 

Water  Rates  Against  Rail  Rates 

The  New  York  Times  of  Sunday,  August  7,  1921,  stated  that 
12,000  carloads  of  lumber — not  cargoes — had  been  brought  into 
Long  Island  and  distributed  through  lumber  yards,  contractors  and 
builders  to  the  consumers  who  are  erecting  or  have  erected  homes 
since  the  first  of  January .  That  lumber  was  valued  at  $  1 2 ,000 ,000 . 

Most  of  that  lumber  had  been  hauled  hundreds  of  miles  by  rail 
at  freight  rates,  which  are  the  highest  in  the  transportation  history 
of  the  country.  The  ultimate  consumer  necessarily  pays  the 
freight.  The  excessive  costs  of  building  today  are  largely  due  to 
excessive  freight  rates. 

Some  lumber  comes  into  New  York  by  water  from  the  South,  it  is 
true,  but  most  of  the  yellow  pine  consumed  in  this  market  is  either 
rail-hauled  direct  from  southern  mills  which  are  now  for  the  most 
part  "off  water"  or  is  rail-hauled  to  some  southern  sea-port  where  it 
is  unloaded,  reloaded  and  shipped  to  New  York,  the  handling  in- 
volving an  extra  cost  which  is  increased  by  the  excessively  high 
short-haul  freight  rate  from  the  mill  to  tide-water. 

Compare  this  situation  with  the  opportunity  we  present  to  mem- 
bers of  the  Home  Builders  Club  in  supplying  them  with  Dominion 
Spruce  from  tide-water  mills  in  Newfoundland  and  Canada. 

Every  foot  of  the  lumber  we  sell  will  be  shipped  by  water  to 
New  York  direct  at  the  lowest  water-freight  rate  obtainable  for 
cargo  lots. 


The  saving  thus  affected  goes  to  the  ultimate  consumers — in  this 
case,  the  members  of  the  Home  Builders  Club. 

Hence  the  saving  of  33*/3%  on  your  lumber  bills  which  we  offer 
you. 

This  is  the  solution  which  the  Belle  Isle  Lumber  Company 
proposes  through  the  Home  Builders  Club  we  are  organizing. 

You  are  cordially  invited  to  become  a  member  of  the  Home 
Builders  Club  and  avail  yourself  of  the  privileges  which  it  offers. 

Our  plans  are  designed  to  assist  in  solving  the  gravest  civic  crisis 
Greater  New  York  has  ever  confronted.  It  is  offered  in  perfect  good 
faith.  Before  its  announcement  in  its  present  form  it  has  been 
carefully  and  thoroughly  tested.  It  is  in  no  sense  an  experiment  as 
the  careful  survey  which  we  have  made  and  the  investigation  which 
we  have  conducted  has  demonstrated  beyond  the  shadow  of  a  doubt 
the  pressing  demand  for  what  we  are  offering.  The  conditions 
we  have  herein  described  are  obvious  and  need  but  to  be  ex- 
plained to  be  understood.  If  the  Home  Builders  Club  plan  had 
never  been  devised  by  us  the  housing  crisis  would  have  continued 
until  the  building  boom  which  is  now  developing  had  finally  re- 
established some  sort  of  equilibrium. 

The  work  that  we  are  doing,  however,  will  undoubtedly  hasten, 
stimulate  and  expand  the  movement.  In  the  last  analysis,  how- 
ever, we  are  simply  inviting  you  to  join  us  in  taking  advantage  for 
the  public  good  and  for  such  legitimate  profit  as  will  rightfully  accrue 
to  us  in  consideration  of  the  service  we  are  rendering  the  public  of 
the  greatest  business  opportunity  which  has  developed  as  a  result 
of  the  World  War. 

Please  read  fully  and  carefully  the  large  four-page  prospectus 
which  should  accompany  this  pamphlet.  The  prospectus  contains  a 
detailed  description  of  the  plan  by  which  you  may  join  the  Home 
Builders  Club.    It  tells  how  our  lumber  is  sold  and  how  we  will 


Lioj 


calculate  for  you  the  amount  you  will  require  in  the  house  you  are 
planning  to  build .  Every  detail  is  clearly  set  forth  and  every  point 
fully  covered.  If,  however,  there  are  any  questions  which  you 
wish  to  ask,  please  write  to  us  or  telephone  us  and  your  questions 
will  be  answered  promptly  and  as  accurately  as  the  best  architectural 


engineering,  financial  and  legal  talent  which  we  can  obtain  will 
enable  us  to  answer  them. 

This,  then,  is  our  solution  for  The  housing  crisis  of  Greater 
New  York:  — 


"Dominion  Spruce — From  Forest  to  Family" 

BELLE    ISLE    LUMBER  COMPANY 

Suite  902,  Loew  Building,  Broadway,  Corner  45th  Street,  New  York  City 


[in 


To  Those  Who  Are  Paying 
Rent  and  Taxes  Both 

To  the  hundreds  of  thousands  of  families 
who  own  building  lots  and  are  still  living  in 
rented  quarters,  crowded  and  uncomfortable, 
this  pamphlet  is  confidently  dedicated  by  the 

HOME  BUILDERS  CLUB 


[12] 


F1R../T   FL.  PLAN. 


L  O  FT  +•  -1 


PLAN  57 

This  cozy  little  bungalow  combines  neatness, 
convenience  and  comfort,  and  at  very  moderate 
cost.  The  rooms  are  well  arranged,  the  bedrooms 
and  bath  being  separated  from  living  quarters,  thus 
securing  both  privacy  and  communication.  The 
open  stairs  from  the  dining-room  lead  to  large  airy 
dormitory  with  four  windows — room  for  at  least 
four  beds  or  a  number  of  cots.  First  class  plumb- 
ing throughout,  including  cabinet  range.  Both 
front  and  rear  porches  can  be  sashed  in,  if  desired; 
also  an  open  fire  place  added  at  little  cost. 

Size  20  ft.  by  30  ft.,  and  can  be  built  for  about 
$2,400.  This  estimate  will  vary  according  to  lo- 
cality and  character  of  materials  used. 


\-  -  ■ 


y^ECOW    FL.  PLAN 


Blue  prints  and  specifications  of  this  design  will  be  furnished.  Bids 

secured  free  of  charge 


PLAN  59 

A  more  artistic  and  roomy  little  cottage  on  the 
bungalow  style  is  hard  to  find  than  this  "Old  Eng- 
lish" stucco  design  with  its  large  mortar-covered 
chimney,  panelled  gables  and  arched  portico  soffits. 
The  basement,  which  is  under  the  entire  building 
provides  heater  space,  laundry  and  shower-bath,  if 
desired.  The  entry  to  kitchen  is  intended  for  re- 
frigerator, but  can  be  changed  into  pantry,  without 
additional  expense,  if  preferred.  The  second  floor, 
which  is  entered  from  central  hall  on  first  floor, 
can  be  divided  into  two  nice  bedrooms  and  a  den 
or  sewing-room,  or  left  as  a  floored  dormitory. 

The  size  of  this  cottage  is  22  ft.  by  30  ft.  and 
can  be  built  as  plan  shows  for  about  $3,400.  This 
estimate  will  vary  according  to  locality  and  char- 
acter of  materials  used.  If  second  floor  is  divided 
and  finished  as  above  stated,  the  additional  cost 
would  be  about  $350. 


FL  PLAN 


m/T  FL.  PLAN. 


Blue  prints  and  specifications  of  this  design  will  fe  furnished. 

secured  free  of  charge 


Bids 


H 


FIUT    FL#?L  PLAN 


PLAN  60 

This  modern  type  of  bungalow,  or  cottage,  is 
known  as  California  style  and  possesses  many  very 
good  features.  The  large  living-room  with  fire 
place,  arched  or  cabinet  head  opening  to  dining- 
room.  Recess  beside  fire  place  for  book  case  or 
seat,  china  closet  and  extended  bay  or  buffet  in 
dining-room,  central  hall  leading  to  all  rooms,  in- 
cluding bath,  grade  entrance  to  kitchen  or  base- 
ment, are  all  desirable.  A  few  dollars  expended 
on  finishing  living  and  dining-room,  such  as 
beamed  ceilings,  panelled  walls  below  platerail, 
built-in  buffet,  etc.,  makes  this  interior  a  most  at- 
tractive and  luxurious  one.  The  two  large  bed- 
rooms on  second  floor  can,  by  slight  modification, 
be  changed  to  four  of  ample  size,  if  desired.  Size 
of  bungalow  22  ft.  by  40  ft.,  and  can  be  built  for 
about  $4,800.  This  estimate  will  vary  according 
to  locality  and  character  of  materials  used. 


/TX^ND  fl^2?L  PLAN 


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secured  free  of  charge 


15 


&  a 


iy  SATH 


f)ED  ItM. 
6'x  io" 


KlXCHEr 


BED  KM 


LIVING  TLM. 
II  '  X  23* 


R.CH 


--4 


FIR../T  Fi^K.  PLAN 


PLAN  58 

Here  is  an  ideal  double  front  bungalow  for  a 
water  front  lot,  elevated  so  as  to  provide  a  large 
garage  with  entrance  from  street  and  ample  space 
for  motor  boat  with  entrance  from  basin.  There  is 
also  ample  room  in  the  basement  for  a  shuffle- 
board,  if  desired.  The  floor  plans  are  convenient 
and  roomy.  The  large  living-room,  with  open  fire 
place,  insures  comfort  during  the  Fall  and  Winter 
months,  when  a  week-end  run  to  the  seashore  is  so 
invigorating  and  delightful.  The  second  story  is 
floored  and  has  triple  windows  on  each  side.  An 
ideal  billiard-room  or  dormitory,  large  enough  to 
accommodate  twenty-five  people. 

Size  24  ft.  by  60  ft.,  including  verandas.  Can 
be  built  for  about  $5,400.  This  estimate  will  vary 
according  to  locality  and  character  of  materials 
used. 


Blue  prints  and  specifications  of  this  design 
will  be  furnished.  Bids  secured  free  of  charge. 


16 


PLAN  943 


This  beautiful  stucco  bungalow  is  designed  for  a  double  front,  or  water 
front  lot,  having  large  veranda  at  each  end.  The  floor  plans  are  similar  to 
Plan  58,  but  instead  of  garage  there  is  a  basement  for  heating  plant,  laundry, 
shower  bath,  etc.;  also  large  space  for  motor  boat.  The  second  floor  is  divided 
into  one  nice  bedroom  and  large  billiard-room,  both  of  which  are  fully  finished. 
The  large  living-room  contains  large  fire  place  of  special  design  and  attractive- 
ness, cozy  corners,  etc. 

This  handsome  bungalow  can  be  built  for  about  $4,900.  This  estimate  will 
vary  according  to  locality  and  character  of  materials  used. 


Blue    prints    and    specifications    of    this    design    will  be 
furnished.     Bids  secured  free  of  charge 


17 


FLOOR.  pLAN 


First  Floor*  Plan 


^asemcnt  Plan 


PLAN  934 

Here  is  an  ideal  seashore  home,  built  on  the  g 
bungalow  style,  but  elevated  so  as  to  give  large  mmi 

room   at   grade   for   automobile,   laundry,   shower  .  

bath,  dressing  rooms,  etc.,  on  ground  floor.  The 
first  floor  plan  could  hardly  be  improved  on  for 
convenience   and   effectiveness.    The  living-room, 
dining-room    and    study    have    beamed  ceilings, 
panelled  sides,  window  and  fire-place  seats,  colon- 
nade with  built-in  book  case  and  china  closet — all 
in  hardwood.    The  living-room  and  study  is  separated  by  rolling  doors,  so  that  latter  can  be  used  as  bedroom,  if  desired. 
The  breakfast-room,  pantry  and  refrigerator  closet  opening  onto  side  porch  are  excellent  features.    The  second  floor  is  large 
and  airy,  and  contains  two  bedrooms,  a  large  billiard-room  and  a    storeroom.    Note    the    spacious    veranda.    The    size    of  this 
bungalow  is  29  ft.  6  in.  by  46  ft.  6  in.,  and  can  be  built  for  about   $8,500.    This    estimate    will    vary   according   to    locality  and 
character  of  materials  used. 


Blue  prints  and  specifications  of  this  design  will  be  furnished.     Bids  secured  free  of  charge 


18 


fiiast  fLOOR.  Plan 


5E.C0NP  fuooo.  Plan 


PLAN  750 

Here  is  a  pretty  little  bungalow,  known  as  the 
Oregon  design  and  when  built  of  wide  undressed 
siding  or  Washington  cedar  shingles,  stained  a  rich 
brown  and  white  trimming,  makes  a  very  attractive 
appearance.  The  floor  plans  are  excellent  and 
roomy — two  good  size  bedrooms  being  on  second 
floor;    also    a    storeroom.    The    living-room  is 

spacious  and  has  a  rustic  fire  place.  The  bed  rooms  on  first  floor  have  direct  and  private 
communication  with  the  bathroom.  The  closet  on  rear  porch  can  be  fitted  for  refrigerator 
or  toilet,  as  preferred. 

The  size  is  22  ft.  by  40  ft.,  and  can  be  built  for  about  $3,700.  This  estimate  will  vary 
according  to  locality  and  character  of  materials  used. 


Blue  prints  and  specifications  of  this  design  will  be  furnished. 

secured  free  of  charge 


Bids 


19 


PLAN  797 

This  is  a  neat  two-story  dwelling.  No  unneces- 
sary exterior  ornamentation,  but  plain  and  sym 
metrical  outside  ;  plenty  of  room  inside.  Note  the 
large  living-room,  with  open  fire  place;  also  the 
private  sitting-room,  which  can  be  used  as  a  study, 
den  or  bedroom,  if  desired;  the  servants'  room 
communicating  with  kitchen;  the  refrigerator 
closet  and  outside  toilet;  while  on  the  second  floor 
are  four  bedrooms  and  bath,  the  front  chamber  hav- 
ing open  fire  place  and  landscape  window.  Base- 
ment under  rear  of  house.  Wide  porch  front  and 
rear.  Size  of  Building  20  ft.  by  35  ft.  and  can  be 
built  for  about  $5,000;  This  estimate  will  vary  ac- 
cording to  locality  and  character  of  materials  used. 


flRS-T  pLooie  Pi_an 


Blue  prints  and  specifications  of  this  design 
will  be  furnished.  Bids  secured  free  of  charge. 


5econc>  fLooR.  Plan 


flR5T  fl-OOR  PL.AN 


PLAN  928 

Here  is  a  very  popular  design,  known  as  a  Swiss 
Chalet,  which  has  been  used  several  times,  modi- 
fied slightly  to  suit  the  taste  of  the  owner.  The 
first  floor  with  the  very  large  living-room,  with 
central  fire  place,  window  seat,  open  stair,  colon- 
nade and  landscape  window;  the  dining-room  with 
landscape  window  and  seat,  built-in  buffet  and 
china  closet;  the  kitchen  with  excellent  appoint- 
ments and  conveniences  to  pantry,  laundry,  cellar 
and  rear  stair,  all  combine  to  make  up  an  ideal  lay- 
out, while  the  second  floor  with  its  four  large  bed- 
rooms and  bath,  all  reached  from  a  small  central 
hall,  leaves  nothing  to  be  desired  in  a  well-de- 
signed home.  The  size  is  26  ft.  by  35  ft.  and  can 
be  built  for  about  $5,100.  This  estimate  will  vary 
according  to  locality  and  character  of  materials 
used. 


Blue  prints  and  specifications  of  this  design  will  be  furnished.     Bids  secured  free  of  charge 


21 


FIR-^T  FL^R.  PLAN 


PLAN  40 

Here  is  a  pretty  "Old  English"  cottage  with 
partial  basement  for  motor  boat  or  other  purposes. 
The  entry  to  kitchen  serves  as  a  desirable  place 
for  refrigerator  or  laundry  trays  as  preferred.  All 
rooms  on  first  floor  may  be  entered  from  a  central 
hall,  from  which  the  stairs  to  second  floor  start. 
The  second  floor  can  be  finished  as  large  playroom, 
billiard-room  or  two  bedrooms  besides  dormitory, 
if  desired.  The  balcony  on  second  floor  can  be 
used  as  sleeping  logia. 

Size  of  cottage  24  ft.  by  30  ft.,  and  can  be  built 
for  about  $4,100.  This  estimate  will  vary  accord- 
ing to  locality  and  character  of  materials  used. 


H  j\ 


BED  RM 


I 


CLO 
«  T  >| 


31 

BED  KM. 


VECtfHD  FU5C.R-  PLAN 


Blue  prints  and  specifications  of  this  design  will  be  furnished.     Bids  secured  free  of  charge 


r  — ' 

UVEflf 
OU&IC 


FIR.7T  TLOPZ.  ?LAH 


PLAN  53 

This  little  stucco  cottage  is  both  attractive  and 
roomy.  In  addition  to  living-room,  dining-room 
and  kitchen  there  are  four  bedrooms  and  two  baths, 
or  one  bath  and  a  child's  room  or  den.  There  is 
also  a  full  basement  with  grade  entrance  under  the 
entire  building,  flue  for  heating  plant,  laundry  and 
shower-bath  with  dressing  closet.  Note  the  double 
stairs  from  hall  and  kitchen,  the  large  open  fire 
place  and  the  rear  porch,  which  can  be  sashed  in 
as  a  conservatory  or  sun  parlor,  separated  from 
dining-room  by  French  casement  door.  The  size 
of  this  cottage  is  21  ft.  6  in.  by  31  ft.  6  in.,  and  can 
be  built  for  about  $4,300.  This  estimate  will  vary 
according  to  locality  and  character  of  materials 
used. 


Blue  prints  and  specifications  of  this  design  will  be  furnished.  Bids 

secured  free  of  charge 


23 


Floor.  Plan 


PLAN  973 

Here  is  a  very  pretty  bungalow,  with  many  good  features.  The  large  living- 
room,  with  fireplace  and  large  bay  window  with  window  seats,  open  stair  and  colon- 
nade, separating  it  from  dining-room,  are  all  attractive.  The  bedrooms  have  private 
communication  with  bathroom,  which  also  has  direct  connection  with  kitchen. 

The  special  closet  for  the  refrigerator  is  also  desirable.  The  second  story  is  un- 
finished, except  laying  of  floor,  so  as  to  be  used  as  a  dormitory,  but  can  be  finished 
into  two  nice  bedrooms  for  two  hundred  dollars,  if  desired. 

The  large  circular  porch  is  both  pleasant  and  attractive.  Size  of  building  25 
ft.  by  42  ft.  and  can  be  built  for  about  $3,800.  This  estimate  will  vary  according  to 
locality  and  character  of  materials  used. 


Blue  prints  and  specifications  of  this  design  will  be  furnished.     Bids  secured  free  of  charge 


2-1 


From  the  New  York  American,  August  15th,  1021 

Landlords  Plan  New  Rent  Grab, 
Wilson  Certain 

A  gloomy  picture  of  the  housing  situation  was  painted  in  a  statement  issued 
yesterday  by  Junius  P.  Wilson,  counsel  for  the  Mayor's  Committee  on  Rent 
Profiteering. 

Wilson  said  that  the  great  majority  of  landlords  in  the  city  are  either  asking 
for  increases  in  rent  or  are  serving  notice  on  their  tenants  to  move.  He  said  that 
the  increases  asked  will  exceed  by  25%  the  present  rentals.    He  added: 

"There  are  no  apartments  on  the  market  within  the  means  of  people  working 
on  a  salary.  The  situation  in  October  will  be  serious  if  landlords  fail  to  take  into 
consideration  the  present  depressed  conditions  throughout  the  country." 


Ex  SlibrtB 


SEYMOUR  DURST 


The 

HOME  BUILDERS  CLUB 


m 


"Greater  New  York — 10  Millions!" 


